For the most time, I've been firmly in the largest camp when it comes to the Mono debate - the 'I don't care'-camp. With patent lawsuits being hotter than Lady Gaga right now, that changed. For good reason, so it seems; while firmly in the 'ZOMG-MICROSOFT-IS-T3H-EVILL!1!!ONE!'-camp, The-Source.com investigated the five most popular Mono applications, and the conclusion is clear: all of them implement a lot of namespaces which are not covered by Microsoft's community promise thing.

What does the namespace have to do with the question of whether or not some implementation infringes on a patent; or are we saying that class names can be patented now?

Agreed - all this means is that those applications rely on an API that falls outside of Microsoft's assurances around patent infringement. Which isn't all that surprising, since stuff like media and UI isn't part of the core language/VM specification.

What it *doesn't* mean is that the Mono implementation of that API is infringing on patents - only that any infringements that do exist aren't protected by the assurances around the ECMA stuff.

What it *doesn't* mean is that the Mono implementation of that API is infringing on patents - only that any infringements that do exist aren't protected by the assurances around the ECMA stuff.

Considering the state of affairs, isn't that bad enough though? :/

I'm not paranoid enough to be part of the "zomg it's only a matter of time!1!1! MS are teh ultimate ev0l!" camp, but I wouldn't entirely dismiss the possibility of them shutting down mono or other projects if it suddenly makes sense from a business perspective.

I wish MS would extend the list of assemblies included and make an even stronger guarantee, just to shut up the anti-crowd... C# is a darn fine language in and by itself, but without larger parts of the .NET libraries covered some of the incentive for using it is lost.

Agreed - all this means is that those applications rely on an API that falls outside of Microsoft's assurances around patent infringement.

I'll bite. No it doesn't. All it actually means is that the text "using System.Linq" has appeared in the source file. It's entirely possible that nothing in that particular code file actually uses any member from that namespace. Useless 'using' statements tend to crop up a lot because there are no ill effects from having them and it is a pain in the ass to remove them without using some kind of automated tool. Who wants to wander through hundreds of code files removing using statements one after another and checking to see if the build fails?

What does the namespace have to do with the question of whether or not some implementation infringes on a patent; or are we saying that class names can be patented now?

Oh noes "System.Media" was referenced! We must be worried about potential lawsuits.

I wouldn't be worried if, through being a dominant world power, US laws wouldn't be forced upon the rest of the world.
Do you really think that the licensing deal's fees between HTC and Microsoft are paid only by americans? I end up paying for them, while software is not patentable in my country...
Also American justice system doesn't seem to know their borders...